Global stock markets buoyant as US stimulus debate approaches

Global stock markets gained for a second day on Tuesday, spurred by increased optimism about economic stimulus and global recovery, while retail investors retreated from GameStop and their new-found interest in silver.

Positive momentum from Asia carried through to Europe, with the pan-European STOXX 600 climbing 1.1%.

Initial European Union estimates showed the eurozone economy contracted less than expected in the fourth quarter of 2020 but is heading for another, probably steeper decline, in the first quarter of 2021.

MSCI’s world equity index, which tracks shares in 49 countries, was up 0.4% after posting its strongest day in three months on Monday.

MSCI’s gauge of Asia-Pacific stocks outside Japan rose 1.4%. China’s benchmark CSI300 Index gained 1.5%, helped by easing concerns about tight liquidity and declining cases of new coronavirus infections. Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 1%.

E-mini futures for the S&P 500 index added 0.8%.

US stock indexes were set to open higher on Tuesday, building on the previous session’s momentum, as investors anticipated strong results from Amazon and Google-parent Alphabet while also looking for signs of progress on a pandemic-relief package.

Alphabet, which will report the cost and operating profit of its Google Cloud business for the first time, added 1.3% premarket, while retail behemoth Amazon.com Inc gained 1.2%.

Both the companies, set to report their fourth-quarter earnings after market close, have jumped more than 7% each after strong earnings from rest of the FAANG group last month.

Investors are gauging outlooks from big corporations to justify elevated stock market valuations, at a time when concerns over a raging pandemic and new coronavirus variants have triggered fears of a short-term pullback in markets.

At 8:47am, Dow e-minis were up 245 points, or 0.81%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 32 points, or 0.85%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 113.75 points, or 0.86%.

Separately, an Indian court blocked Future Group’s sale of a swathe of assets to rival Reliance Industries on Tuesday after Amazon raised objections to the $3.4 billion deal, in a battle of the retail titans that could reshape the shopping sector.

The decision is a setback for Future, the country’s second-largest retailer with over 1,700 stores, which agreed to sell its retail businesses to market leader Reliance last year. It has said it could face liquidation if the deal falls through.

US online giant Amazon, which had its sights set on ultimately owning part of the retail assets itself, argued a 2019 deal it had with a unit of Future contained clauses prohibiting the Indian group from selling them to anyone on a “restricted persons” list including Reliance.

The corporate battle has embroiled sprawling businesses led by two of the world’s richest men - Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Reliance’s Mukesh Ambani.

Markets were buoyant before negotiations on Tuesday between US President Joe Biden and Republican senators on a new COVID support bill. The GOP’s $618 billion stimulus plan released early on Monday was about a third the size of the President’s proposal. Top Democrats later on Monday filed a joint $1.9 trillion budget measure in a step toward bypassing Republicans. The dollar index eased by 0.1% to 90.9.

Against the dollar, the euro was trading at $1.2032, just above an early December low hit in the previous session.

The Australian dollar pared gains after the country’s central bank said it would extend its quantitative easing programme to buy an additional $100 billion of bonds. The Aussie last stood at $0.7602, off the day’s high of $0.7662.

With global market sentiment remaining upbeat about US fiscal stimulus, core eurozone government bond yields edged up, with the benchmark German 10-year Bund yield around two basis points higher at -0.492%.

The 10-year US Treasury note added 3 basis points to yield 1.1087%, its highest since Jan 22.

Institutional investors are still digesting the retail trading frenzy that boosted GameStop Corp and other so-called meme stocks in recent sessions against their financial fundamentals, but they have made cautious moves to protect their positions.

GameStop’s Frankfurt-listed shares were down 36.5% from Monday’s close at 132 euros ($158.8) on Tuesday. The shares closed in US markets at $225.

Spot silver prices slipped 5% to $27.53 per ounce, as investors locked in profits after the precious metal touched a near eight-year peak in the previous session, driven by retail investors.

Spot gold fell 0.9% Tuesday to $1,841.96 per ounce.

Pfizer SEES $15B IN SALES: Pfizer said on Tuesday it expects to generate $15 billion, or about a quarter of its total revenue this year, from the sale of its COVID-19 vaccine co-developed with German partner BioNTech.

The drugmaker is striving to deliver two billion doses of the vaccine in 2021 at a breakneck pace as countries rush to sign supply deals in an effort to control a pandemic that has killed over 2 million people globally.

Pfizer said its forecast could go higher if the company signs more supply contracts.

“2021 earnings and sales will see a significant benefit from the vaccine, and this benefit could increase throughout the year,” said Edward Jones analyst Ashtyn Evans.